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Get ready to hustle, fight and escape sudden death this weekend with Prime Video.
The streamer just added several movies that, although they are all wildly different from each other, all have one thing in common — they’re guaranteed to entertain you for two hours.
Watch With Us are big Anne Hathaway stans, and she makes the otherwise so-so comedy The Hustle a must-watch due to her innate charisma.
Florence Pugh will next appear in December’s surefire blockbuster Avengers: Doomsday, but most people haven’t seen one of her best films, Fighting with My Family.
Speaking of fighting, Jean-Claude Van Damme has made a career out of knocking heads together onscreen, and one of his best films, Sudden Death, combines his acrobatic fighting skills with spectacular action set pieces.
‘The Hustle’ (2019)
Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson in The Hustle MGM
Anne Hathaway is the unofficial queen of the summer by starring in hits The Devil Wears Prada 2, The Odyssey and this weekend’s surefire winner, The End of Oak Street, so it’s a good time to stream one of her more underrated films. In The Hustle, she stars as Josephine, a con artist who has mastered the art of stealing from the rich to give to herself. When she encounters an unexpected competitor, Penny (Rebel Wilson), she first tries to get rid of her. But she soon realizes the neophyte swindler is better as an accomplice than a competitor and they soon team up to swindle the rich and gullible Thomas (Alex Sharpe).
A loose remake of the 1987 Steve Martin film Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Hustle is an enjoyable comedy about two people who have too much money and not enough morals. There’s not a lot Josephine and Penny won’t do to get what they want, but underneath their ice-cold exteriors lies some warmth. Hathaway and Wilson make a good comedic team, with Anne providing a haughty snark that Miranda Priestly would be proud of and Wilson giving enough physical comedy to generate consistent laughs. It’s no classic, but The Hustle is entertaining enough to steal 94 minutes of your time this weekend.
The Hustle is streaming on Prime Video.
‘Fighting With My Family’ (2019)
Lena Headey, Florence Pugh, Nick Frost in Fighting with My Family. Rogert Viglasky / © MGM / courtesy Everett Collection.
Most girls dream of being doctors, lawyers or other high-powered careers, but Saraya (Florence Pugh) isn’t like most girls. She wants to be a wrestler and join the WWE, and she gets a chance to realize her dream when she’s invited to Florida to train with professionals, including Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. But Saraya, who now goes by the stage name Paige, doesn’t quite fit in with the other recruits and soon believes she’s not good enough to be a professional. Her family thinks otherwise, and they’ll do anything to keep her dream alive, whether she likes it or not.
Based on a true story, Fighting with My Family tells a standard underdog story that somehow avoids feeling cliché. That’s partly due to the fantastic cast, which includes Nick Frost and Lena Headey as Paige’s bawdy parents and Slow Horses’ Jack Lowden as Paige’s brother, who also has dreams of becoming a wrestler. But the film is ultimately worth watching because of Pugh, who’s terrific as Paige, who isn’t quite as invulnerable as she pretends to be. Pugh was nominated for an Oscar in 2020 for Little Women, but she’s just as impressive in Fighting with My Family.
Fighting with My Family is streaming on Prime Video.
‘Sudden Death’ (1995)
Jean-Claude Van Damme in Sudden Death. Universal/courtesy Everett Collection
Thanks to Heated Rivalry and Off Campus, hockey is all the rage right now, but Jean-Claude Van Damme made hockey pucks cool – and dangerous – three decades ago with the action flick Sudden Death. The Muscles from Brussels stars as Darren McCord, an ex-firefighter who takes his two kids to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals in Pittsburgh. When his daughter is kidnapped, he uncovers a plot to kill the visiting vice president of the United States and everyone in the arena unless a million-dollar ransom is wired to an offshore account. Joshua Foss (Powers Boothe), the leader of the terrorist group, means business, as he’s rigged the entire hockey rink with explosives that will go off unless his demands are met. There’s only one man who can stop him – Darren.
Sudden Death is a B-grade Sylvester Stallone movie that’s also an A-plus Jean-Claude Van Damme action flick. The plot is absurd, the action stunts defy reality and Van Damme once again shows that the fewer words he says, the better. But it’s also goofy fun, and it makes great use of the Pittsburgh Civic Arena, where most of the film’s set. Expect gunfights, kickboxing moves only Van Damme can pull off and a spectacular helicopter crash that will make you roll your eyes, laugh and cheer all at once.
Sudden Death is streaming on Prime Video.
